Chapter 40
Otherwise, how could Henry bear to marry Suzanne off to Todd, a man nearing forty who was infamous for his womanizing ways? Only a father like hers could make such a decision.
Suzanne’s grip on her phone tightened as if she were trying to suppress the emotions threatening to rise. Austin glanced over at her, sensing the shift in her mood.
Back at the Hall residence, Suzanne had kept her composure amidst the chaos, but now, surrounded by the quiet of the car, she exuded an air of despair.
Frowning, Austin turned to her. “What happened?”
Suzanne paused for a moment, the weight of her emotions catching up to her. The last time she had been hurt by Henry, Austin had asked about it, but she had kept quiet. Now, she felt like she had nothing to hide.
She forced a strained smile, her voice cracking with the weight of it all. “My dad wants me to marry Todd Lloyd.”
Austin’s expression instantly darkened. “Your dad sure knows how to pick a man.”
Todd was notorious for his womanizing. A fixture in Dutore’s nightlife, his reputation preceded him. There was even an infamous incident where Todd spent five million dollars on a woman for a single night, only for her to end up in the hospital the next day. It was the kind of scandal that made headlines.
Suzanne gave a bitter laugh, confirming what Austin already knew. “Yeah.”
She then began to tell him about the conversation she’d had earlier, the bearing she’d received. The more she spoke, the colder the atmosphere in the car became. Austin’s silence spoke volumes, and his eyes were like ice.
Suddenly, the car screeched to a halt. Suzanne was jolted forward in her seat, and Austin quickly pulled over to the side of the road, his gaze now fixed on her with a chilling intensity.
“I’m your husband. You should’ve told me about this.” His voice was cold, yet there was an underlying edge of anger in his tone.
Suzanne froze. For years, no one had protected her, and she had learned not to show her wounds to others. She lowered her gaze, hiding the complex emotions swirling in her eyes. But beneath her guarded exterior, a flicker of warmth rose in her heart.
When Suzanne lifted her eyes again, the raw emotion had been wiped clean, replaced with her usual calm demeanor. She met Austin’s gaze, which was deep and unwavering, and her heart swelled with gratitude.
“I know you want to stand up for me,” she said, her voice soft. “But I… I don’t want to rely on you too much.”
She understood that if Austin intervened, the situation would be resolved quickly. Her father, Henry, would likely jump at the opportunity to align himself with the Hall family, seeing it as a way to further his own interests. But Suzanne couldn’t allow that. She refused to let her father drain the Hall family’s resources just to fuel his own ambitions.
Austin’s expression darkened instantly, and a heavy, oppressive air filled the car. Suzanne’s heart raced, and she instinctively recalled something Austin had said before: he wanted a real wife, not the person she was now.
At that moment, her mind flashed back to everything she had thought about Austin before. With his status, power, and abilities, she had always assumed he could marry a woman a hundred times better than her.
The temperature in the car seemed to drop even further. Suzanne looked at Austin once more, trying to explain. “Your family already doesn’t like me. If I rely on you for everything, they’ll always resent me.”
Austin’s gaze flickered slightly, as if he hadn’t anticipated this.
Suzanne smiled faintly, a sad, bittersweet expression on her face. “Your sister and father have made their judgments clear. They think you’ve married a trophy wife, someone who needs your support for everything. I don’t want them to think less of you.”
Her words were simple, but the weight behind them was heavy. Suzanne knew what Yasmine and Timothy thought of her. She didn’t want to confirm their worst assumptions—that she was just another dependent woman clinging to Austin’s wealth and power.
If she couldn’t handle something as simple as standing up to her father, how could she ever prove herself capable of anything? Wouldn’t that make her exactly what Yasmine had described?
Her face remained composed, and she looked directly into Austin’s eyes, her resolve unwavering.
A flash of surprise crossed Austin’s face as he processed her words. It was clear now that he had misunderstood her intentions. He hadn’t realized how deeply Suzanne cared about maintaining her own independence, even in the face of adversity.
The air between them was heavy, but it was filled with something more—understanding, however unspoken. Suzanne wasn’t asking for his protection; she was asking for his support, but in a way that wouldn’t diminish her sense of self.
